Armed teacher volunteers would deter would-be shooters in schools.

Tracey Goodlett is a good example of an uninformed person who has an irrational fear of guns. She uses scare tactics and false data to say that arming teachers is dangerous ("Guns, school a dangerous mix" March 7). Undoubtedly she has not been to a Protecting Our Students and Teachers (POST) briefing, nor visited the POST website (postky.org).

She wrote, "There is no evidence that allowing teachers and school staff to carry weapons would reduce gun violence in schools." Well, of course not! It has never been tried before! But what has been tried is arming the nations commercial airline pilots. Since 9/11, there has not been a single incident of a passenger getting hurt or of guns being left on an airplane, and more importantly, not a single airplane has been hijacked.

Therein lies the key to the POST program that Ms. Goodlett doesn't seem to realize: guns in schools would be a strong deterrent to any would-be shooter. The shooters thus far have walked into a gun-free zone, knowing they have the freedom to shoot as many innocents as possible until law enforcement arrives, then they either surrender or shoot themselves. They want a body count, not a gunfight, and it is unlikely they would enter a school with armed personnel ready and waiting. The teacher volunteers would be selected by the administration, with background checks and interviews by law enforcement, and thoroughly trained (as commercial airline pilots are), and then would go through annual recurrent training. They would then conceal their weapons on their person, and no students would know they are armed. There would be a sign at the door of the school warning any would be shooter that teachers and staff are trained and armed. This program would cost the schools nothing, be overseen and trained by law enforcement personnel, and be highly effective in protecting our precious children. It took only three minutes for police to arrive at Sandy Hook and by that time, 26 children and teachers were dead. We need this program in our schools and parents should contact their school boards to tell them so.